A lesson in orchestration, or a not entirely genuine dialogue between two famous composers

Abstrakt

This article is a rather unusual methodological proposal, because the discourse takes the form of a free conversation between master and pupil. This method of presenting the sometimes complex issues of composition technique – rooted in Plato’s dialogues and successfully employed in Baroque treatises – may prove useful also today. A bipolar approach to identifying a composer’s intentions (especially when – as in Ravel’s case – he is also responsible for the instrumentation of his piano compositions) may be a more accessible way of showing which issues need attention when examining scores from the point of view of orchestration technique. The comparative analysis deals with the piano and orchestral versions of Maurice Ravel’s Alborada del gracioso. The situational context of the dialogue was created to make the form of the discussion more appealing.